Opinion: Brian Kelly’s influence rubbing off on Tommy Rees
We didn’t think we’d be here again, but alas. Although Marcus Freeman has done a good job of making Notre Dame fans forget about Brian Kelly, Kelly’s influence remains strong in South Bend. After all, many of the current players were recruited to the Irish when Kelly was in charge. Many of Kelly’s assistants also were retained, including Tommy Rees.
Now, a little over 14 months after Kelly peaced out of South Bend for LSU, Rees has done the same, heading to Alabama for his latest offensive coordinator gig. Call it a reach if you want, but do you really not think that Kelly’s actions from over a year ago didn’t have some sort of influence on Rees’? Kelly made it clear that Notre Dame was a stepping stone for the SEC or another program that supposedly is more prominent. Considering Kelly’s success in his first season with the Tigers and the success surely awaiting Rees with the Tide, it’s not hard to think that mindset has been set.
Is there anyone out there who actually sees Notre Dame as the place they want to stay for their entire coaching careers? Or has Notre Dame merely become just another stop en route to the cream of the crop in college football? Either way, it leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. College coaches seemingly only serve what’s best for them, and that apparently means leaving South Bend the moment the SEC or someone else comes calling.
Freeman has a lot of work to do to rebuild the Irish into a program that the best of the best want to stay at. No, it wasn’t going to happen this soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t feel lousy about the current perception. Only proving themselves as a program that can show up on the biggest stages and show they belong there will they get on that path. Until then, folks like Kelly and Rees will stick around only until they can head to the next tier of college football.
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